Junko's Mistake
by Respeute
Summary: Another battle with a few cyclonians and a disturbing outcome.
1. Junko's Mistake

**Junko's Mistake**

Junko sat on the edge of the Condor, admiring the clear sky and cotton clouds that sifted peacefully through the air. His mind was clear; almost too clear following the events of the night before. He hammered his fists together and listened to the echo of metal rebound from the distant cliff tops. His short dark hair blew aside as a calming wind shot past. Finn casually approached his buddy with a silver spanner in hand.  
"Hey Junko, what're you doing out here?"  
Junko broke away from his strange admiring trance and glanced up at the sharpshooter.  
"Oh...Uh... I just... I'm not sure..."  
Finn glared at Junko's blank stare, turning the metal object through his fingers.  
"Well, Aerrow asked me to ask you to take a look at his skimmer... Something about lose jets... Anyways, I'll leave you to it dude." Finn spun the spanner through air and walked away boastfully leaving Junko to catch the important trinket.

Junko scanned every inch of Aerrow's skimmer and found no such problem. All the jets were operational, every nut and bolt was firmly in place. He rubbed the spanner against his head, bemused by the request.  
Without warning a violent grumble erupted from Junko's stomach.  
"Uh...I guess it's time for lunch." He held his stomach, slightly embarrassed, although there wasn't one person in sight to fault him. He made his way away from the skimmer bay and to the kitchen to raid the fridge for the day.  
The door swung open. A realm of food delights awaited him. "Mm..." Junko rubbed his stomach, licking his lips gleefully. He reached out for a handful of what looked like a tainted gloop in a cup at the back of the fridge. He began to imagine the sensational taste of the sticky fruit against his tongue.  
"Junko, let's go! Cyclonians!"  
"Wha-" Finn grabbed Junko's wrist and hauled the Wallop to the Skimmer bay, directing him to his emerald skimmer. Junko checked that he had a good supply of Turkey Burps in hand and climbed aboard, following his leader Aerrow to the outside world, where several dark silhouettes approached rapidly.  
"Finn, you take the two on the left. Junko I want you to deal with those elites." Aerrow had his own plan to take down the only truly dangerous figure: The Dark Ace.

Finn raced ahead, readying his energy crossbow. He loaded an arrow, tipped with a vibrant blue crystal and caught the attention of the opposition. Three Cyclonians hurtled toward him. Finn took aim and shot once as a warning. The Cyclonians were persistent and raced toward the childish threats that continued to pour from Finn's crossbow.  
Aerrow raced toward his opponent, lacking no confidence whatsoever. The only question running through his mind was, 'who would be the first to blink?' He knew after so many battles, even the Dark Ace would have been tired of this game, but it was all part of his master plan. The Dark Ace grimaced once again as Aerrow hurtled toward him.  
Junko took his chances flew straight through a thicket of Elites. He darted upward above the heads of the dumbstruck Cyclonians and let several Turkey Burps go. They fluttered through the air and gracefully landed on the bemused pilots below. Junko glided over a black cloud of smoke and toward his buddy Finn. "Need a hand?"  
"Nah! The Finnster has everything under control!" Finn took aim once again and shot the engine of one of the switchblades. It plummeted to the wastelands, leaving the pilot no choice but to parachute his way away.  
"Chica-cha!"  
Junko hovered over the two remaining Cyclonians and dropped two more bombs. They perished instantly.  
"Yeah!" he yelled. The two Storm Hawks started a victory glide back to the condor leaving only Aerrow to face the Dark Ace alone, as he always insisted. They watched intently from the skimmer bay.  
Neither the Dark Ace nor Aerrow refused to blink. Their deaths seemed imminent. But after all, this was part of Aerrow's master plan. With a large amount a distance between the two pilots Aerrow let his engine take off. "Hold on Radarr." Radarr took hold of his co-pilots seat and waited anxiously for the next part to his leader's plan. Aerrow grinned once again, closing the gap between good and evil one last time.  
Junko glanced to the ground where Aerrow's skimmer had sat previously. His heart sank. The events to follow were caused by his hand. Junko felt the guilt inside bubble through his throat. He could barely watch as his leader left a trail of black smoke in the sky, plummeting into the wastelands with great speed. The Dark Ace laughed grimly. Finn ran to the edge of the runway, watching his leader fall in style. Piper raced into the bay.  
"What're you guys doing!?"  
Junko felt paralysed. The thought provoking item where Aerrow's skimmer had once rested glared at him, forcing him to believe he had carried out the work of Cyclonians. Piper sighed despairingly and rushed to her heliscooter, but it was too late. Aerrow was long gone. The wastelands had consumed him, Radarr and the skimmer.


	2. Enter the Wastelands

**Enter the Wastelands**

Piper stormed through the sky following the trail of choking fumes in search of Aerrow, hoping to see him soar through the sky on his hand-glider with Radarr in his arms. But this desire was far from possible. Aerrow was long gone.  
Piper was now in serious danger as the Dark Ace prowled through the clear sky, haunting the crew with his sinister laugh. Piper spiralled downward hoping to come across the Sky Knight.  
"C'mon Aerrow..." Piper repeated, reassuring herself of Aerrow's safe return.

Junko took hold of the stray wing-nut and bolt, running them through his fingers and scouring his mind for the answer to the objects' existence. He couldn't work out what part of the skimmer the bolt had come from. Guilt had overrun his mind with darkened thoughts. Finn ran back into the skimmer bay.  
"What 'cha got there big guy?"  
Junko glanced at the bolt and remained silent as his thoughts danced ritually through his head.  
Stork's voice blared through the halls of the Condor howling with a sense of worry.  
"Um... guys, I hate to ruin whatever's happening in the bay, but we're gonna need some heavy fire... A Cyclonian Destroyer's on our tail..."  
Finn glanced at Junko and then darted for his gun.  
Junko felt his heart beat against his ribcage as he glanced out at the trail of smoke. He rushed to his canon and began belting out as many shots as possible at the seemingly harmless ship edging its way toward the Condor.

Stork manoeuvred the ship through the sky with ease and narrowly missed the first few shots from the enemy ship. But that wasn't enough as the Condor took a direct hit from behind causing Stork to lose any control of the ship whatsoever.  
Junko was thrust forward and nearly thrown of the ship. The Condor pelted through the sky, nose-diving into the abyss below.  
"...To the few remaining crew members aboard... You might wanna hold on..." Stork's depressing words sent the last heartbeats of the crew across the world of Atmos. Once again, the Condor had started a downward journey into the fiery pit below, where treacherous rock formations awaited.  
Finn let out a girlish scream as he raced for the bridge. Junko attempted to crawl back inside the aircraft, but gravity prevailed and dragged Junko toward the heated pit below. With all his strength, Junko latched on to his blaster for dear life. The heat from the lava below had trail sweat along Junko's neck.  
"GUYS!" he yelled. It was useless. The sounds of erupting magma chambers had already began hammering against the Condor, rendering any noises below a certain frequency inaudible. Junko tightened his grip on the blaster but with his incredulous Wallop strength he crushed the metal.  
"Happy thoughts... Happy thoughts..." he murmured continually, closing his eyes and trying desperately not to look at the bubbling, glowing substance below.  
A snake-like being burst from the depths below and sprayed the Condor with handfuls of magma, finally shrieking an ear-piercing howl into the musty air. Junko yelped for help once again, but it was no use.

At that same point, the metal blaster gave way.  
"AHH!" screamed Junko. He fell down into the wastelands.  
However, his perilous journey down was cut short as he landed on a cliff edge.  
"Ow! Ow! Ow..." Junko cried as he leapt to his feet and rubbed his back vigorously. He had rolled several feet away from the edge of the magma lake and now the Condor was nowhere in sight.  
Junko was now stranded and had nowhere to turn. He could only hope to reunite with The Brotherhood of Atmosian high-risk Fuel workers.  
His ordinary day had taken a downward spiral. He reached into his pocket and ran the missing wing-nut and bolts through his fingers, desperately hoping both Aerrow and Piper were okay.

Junko wandered through the wastelands with his nerves almost breaching the surface of his throat and sweat falling from him in a waterfall fashion. Screams from beasts echoed through tunnel walls as he continued to walk in search of harmless life-forms, or in any case, the Condor.  
"Aw man... All this is my fault... If only I looked at Aerrow's skimmer properly..."  
He trudged through uncanny rock formations toward unknown territories uncertain of who- or what he would meet next.  
"Hello?" cried a familiar voice.  
Junko spun around but saw no one. "Is anyone there?"  
"Piper?" Junko answered cautiously. "Piper is that-"  
"JUNKO! Thank god you're here!"  
Although Junko could hear the calming voice, he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  
"Piper, where are you?" Junko glanced around, but found he was pretty much surrounded by misshapen boulders. Piper hammered her fist against one of the boulders.  
"I'm over here- with Aerrow. Junko, we really need your help!"  
"I don't know where you guys are-"  
"Follow my voice." Piper said cunningly. As always, she had a plan; even if it wasn't stuck to. Piper called out to the Wallop for the first time.  
"Okay..." Junko waltzed around the disfigured boulders until he arrived at a boulder he was sure the other Storm Hawks were behind. He lifted his fist and pounded the boulder with an almighty force, causing the ground to tremor. Junko smashed it several more times.  
"Keep going Junko!" Aerrow started weakly.  
"Aerrow!" Junko cried with a sense of relief. His heart was uplifted within seconds compelling him to tear through the wall with great haste, bursting with excitement to see his leader once again and apologize.  
"Stand back guys, I'm coming through!"

Rock fragments bounded in several directions as Junko pounded the boulder the last few times. However, the last blow was mind provoking, heart wrenching blow.  
"ARGH!" screamed Aerrow, though his cry was muffled by the downpour of blackened stones falling from above. Junko leapt through the stone-fall valiantly, only to be disheartened once again. A large boulder rested on Aerrow's leg, shaking slightly. Piper screamed as she gaped at the large object blocking any circulation to Aerrow's leg, and watching Aerrow howl in pain as his leg was near breaking point. Junko once again was paralysed with fear and regret.


End file.
